Top 5 things to do following a swarm capture?

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Oxalic Acid

 

[Erichalfbee]

Oxalic Acid. Kills varroa.
JBM beat me to it

 

[Beedogg]

Thank you

 

[RichardK]

Forgive the idiot question from a brand new bee-ginner. What's OA?

Not a silly question at all. I didn't know what it was myself until 10 days ago. It's Oxalic Acid.

 

[pargyle]

Not a silly question at all. I didn't know what it was myself until 10 days ago. It's Oxalic Acid.

There's no such thing as a silly question - just one you don't know the answer to ....better to ask and find out than sit back and wonder, no shame in asking.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Forgive the idiot question

There's no such thing as a silly question

But be prepared for quite a few silly answers on here

 

[Ron Birrell]

No such thing as an idiot question.
OA is Oxalic Acid.

 

[Earthboy]

So...day 1 of the swam caught yesterday and now resident in a 10 frame hive.

Being completely new to this and with too much information (books, YouTube and Google...) what would people recommend as the top 5 things I should be doing over the coming days / weeks to help ensure the success of the colony? And is varoa treatment in there somewhere?

Thanks in advance,
Richard

If it's a primary swarm, I will start feeding them for fast wax drawing; if secondary, automatic three-day quarantine with food and ample ventilation to force them stay put. Capturing a swarm is the easy part; facilitating them to stay is harder. Had a large swarm at one point that had stayed for a week and then left, having taken advantage of my feeding all along. But absolutely no regret, for their next generations will return to my traps, given a few more years. It seems there are more swarms near the vicinity of a beekeeper in the woods. No, I am not talking about swarms flying off from the beekeeper's own yards, but the general proximity nearby.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Prime swarm or cast - no difference, unless in a time of total dearth, leave them to draw comb using their own resources for three days, then feed to get them to build comb.

 

[user 20528]

no shame in asking.

More shame in not asking and trying to figure it out, but messing up.

 

[Do224]

If it's a primary swarm, I will start feeding them for fast wax drawing; if secondary, automatic three-day quarantine with food and ample ventilation to force them stay put. Capturing a swarm is the easy part; facilitating them to stay is harder. Had a large swarm at one point that had stayed for a week and then left, having taken advantage of my feeding all along. But absolutely no regret, for their next generations will return to my traps, given a few more years. It seems there are more swarms near the vicinity of a beekeeper in the woods. No, I am not talking about swarms flying off from the beekeeper's own yards, but the general proximity nearby.

Does your three day quarantine involve blocking the entrance and leaving them locked in for the duration? How do you know if it’s a cast or prime swarm when you first catch them....I thought you would have to wait a period of time to know that as you would need to see if the queen is laying

 

[drex]

No. You don't lock them in. You can put a queen excluder under the brood box for a couple of days, but do not want to stop a virgin from going out to mate, so it is then removed. Adding a frame of brood can encourage them to stay.
You might see the queen and her shape an size will give you a good idea wether virgin or mated. A mated queen gets down to laying as soon as she has cells to lay in. I generally do a quick look in after about three days, then leave them alone for 2-3 weeks

 

[Earthboy]

Does your three day quarantine involve blocking the entrance and leaving them locked in for the duration? How do you know if it’s a cast or prime swarm when you first catch them....I thought you would have to wait a period of time to know that as you would need to see if the queen is laying

In my area, a cast typically occurs late in the season and most primary swarms occur early in the season like now. You can invariably tell by the height and the size of their cluster, the cast led by virgin lighting very high in the branch with smaller (rugby ball size). Ideally you can put a frame of brood to help either swarm to stay put but while in honey production mode you may not want or have one available. In such case, I would put them on OMF and a gallon of syrup and closed them up for three days. I know it's hard not to free them before three days.

But some beekeepers think that three day closeup will disorient the swarm, hence helping them lose their earlier other sites scouts might have identified. Sometimes a queen can squeeze through QE as well. Recall you can change the hive location without having to move them two miles if you close them up for three days and then scatter grass clippings along the entrance to get them reoriented. A similar thought.

 

[Erichalfbee]

You can invariably tell by the height and the size of their cluster, the cast led by virgin lighting very high in the branch with smaller (rugby ball size).

Invariably?
A big prime can be headed by a virgin
And what would you say this was?

 

[Earthboy]

View attachment 26676
Invariably?
A big prime can be headed by a virgin
And what would you say this was?

Mini or micro swarms like that are cast or as we say a secondary swarm in my neck of the woods. That could an old queen after a superstructure late in the season.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

You can invariably tell by the height and the size of their cluster, the cast led by virgin lighting very high in the branch with smaller (rugby ball size).

Utter nonsense I'm afraid

 

[Erichalfbee]

Mini or micro swarms like that are cast or as we say a secondary swarm in my neck of the woods. That could an old queen after a superstructure late in the season.

It was a swarm in April 2018. That was it in its entirety. The queen was superseded this year
My point is that the only way you can tell us to look in. There is no room for speculation based on size. Unless you spot a marked queen

 

[Earthboy]

It was a swarm in April 2018. That was it in its entirety. The queen was superseded this year

Hence, my qualification "invariably."

 

[Erichalfbee]

Hence, my qualification "invariably."

Invariably means always

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Invariably means always

which is seldom the case